Lucifers Hero

An interesting article on the appeal - whether players should have taken their case to Australian courts instead of Swiss courts. Appeals to home country courts by other athletes appear to have done that with some success Essendon appeal will be lengthy: WADA president It seems the 34 are in for a long wait: 'The WADA President, Sir Craig Reedie, said: "I understand that the Essendon players are heading to the Swiss Tribunal, which is the ultimate appeal process, and they are entitled to do that...It'll take quite a long time, he warned.' Realistically, as if the Swiss Fed Court cares two hoots that Paul Marsh and co want their case heard asap! They will have to wait their turn. Of course, Marsh will bleat on about delays being unfair etc but he is yet to learn of the big fish/small pond place the AFL swims in. He might also learn some finesse if he is going to deal with Europeans - he will find a very different culture where subtlety is a constant subtext. (Btw did anyone else pick up that all documents associated with this case so far, need to be translated to French. You would think that alone will take many months!) The bottom line: "I think in all honesty to be fair to the athletes in anti-doping we try to protect the clean athletes..." (Reedie). So many in AFL land have lost sight of that.

Shortly after CAS suspensions were announced, I predicted that someone eg EFC Coteries would find training facilities for suspended players and hire a recently retired AFL/VFL coach/fitness staff. Well, it could just happen: Malthouse to coach suspended EFC players!! http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/essendon-supplements-saga-mick-malthouse-in-talks-on-coaching-suspended-dons-20160213-gmtbil.html Malthouse would be accompanied by his long-time fitness sidekick David Buttifant Quote: "There is also a question about how such a program would be funded, whether it could be paid by Essendon, the AFLPA, the AFL, the players themselves or another method". The answer to this will be interesting an whether it violates the WADA suspension rules". Knowing the AFL's slickness it will find a way to fund the players training and coaching. Not sure whether I'm glad or disappointed my prediction may come to pass. I guess the players are entitled to keep fit and prepare for 2017. But I believe any funding should not come from the AFL/AFLPA as that is money that belongs to the game and other clubs! It is just so damn frustrating players are being feted by all and sundry. They will come out of this like martyrs!! Edit: Here is an updated article. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/essendon-supplements-saga-mick-malthouse-is-the-right-man-for-exiled-dons-20160213-gmtdxb.html Pours a bit of cold water on the idea of Malthouse coaching. Interesting article as it lists a lot of the do's/don'ts for players while suspended.

Jones. My guess is an average of $750k p.a. annual amount over/under that according to front or back end loading. Lots of things would make his total contract. My guess contract is front loaded to leave salary cap for young talent as Jones gets to end of his contract in 2019

Or wait till the 'request to appeal' (or whatever the right words are) is denied. There will then be no appeal at all. The hue and cry about being denied justice will be deafening. Then those 'brain dead' fans (and media, AFLPA etc) can add the Swiss Federal Tribunal to their long list of 'bad guys'!!! From what other posters have said the 'appeal' is part of a chess game with the insurance coy. So presumably the players won't care if 'request to appeal' is denied. Beginning to look like a very big, very expensive charade!

That comment shows how ignorant Beveridge is of the facts of this case and like so many others he has clearly not read the CAS judgement. One of CAS's 16 'threads in the rope' was that players did have grounding: CAS highlighted they have ample AFL/AFLPA training on the WADA code, what not to take, who to talk to, what to declare to drug testers, where to check drugs etc. Player failure to follow any of this training (grounding) was a key reason why CAS could not entertain the 'we were duped' argument. Even if Beveridge is towing the company line, he should check his facts before making public comments and think about the message this is giving young kids in all sports.

He is just towing the company line. But it is a serious, serious worry that there is an AFL coach (or any coach, anywhere) who doesn't get the rule that: players are responsible for what goes into their bodies. No excuses, no exceptions!

HAPPY 21st JESSE! May you long wear the RED and the BLUE

Not sure about that od. If the Swiss Fed Court grants their appeal WADA can go back to CAS for a rehearing. If CAS again finds them guilty it can apply a 2 year suspension. They received a 1 year backdate which CAS does not (I don't think) have to grant them on a rehearing. So without the backdating they would still have 1 year to serve. Having said that it is all quite academic. From what Marsh said this morning, they are arguing that CAS had no right, under Australian law, to hear the case de novo. International law trumps national laws.

Sadly, Melksham is one to appeal. Some peer pressure happening here or I suspect some deal/tradeoff on compensation has happened. I fully accept his right to appeal. As a Demons fan here was a perfect opportunity for him to start repaying the faith and follow the advice in the Mick Ellis article WJ quoted: If the players wanted to save their reputations, this is how they could have done so: “As a sportsman committed to clean, ethical competition, I acknowledge the possibility that I was administered a banned substance—unwittingly. I continue to hope and believe this was not the case, but those officials responsible for this are unwilling or unable to testify to the contrary and, therefore, in accordance with the worldwide doping code of personal responsibility I accept a reasonable penalty on the basis of my own failures in these unacceptable circumstances.”

Players are trying to have their cake and eat it! Marsh just said they have not sought an injunction to play in 2016 because (even if WADA/CASA appeal a favourable result for the player appeal at the Swiss Federal Court) they believe they cannot get another suspension penalty having served out the 2016 suspension. Where are these guys getting their advice!!?? Have they forgotten they were given a CAS 2 year suspension with a 1 year backdating! If by some miracle their appeal holds and it goes back to CAS I hope they get the 2 years, no 1 year backdating but allowance for the 2016 suspension served. ie They will have another year to serve. Rightly so!

Looks like Jack Watts will be our 3rd tall. An interview: http://www.aflplayers.com.au/article/video-watts-jacks-best-position/ On contests:“It wasn’t quite up to scratch. That’s pretty much what the whole team is getting drilled on.” On our game: Goody (Simon Goodwin) is starting to really take control of our offensive movement... On where we are at: “It’s a really positive feeling at the club and that improvement is what sort of drives us to start really enjoying footy and winning games, and becoming respected in the competition.” confirming similar comments from our intrepid DL posters of team training. You've gotta love Brayshaw's quoted comment: “the club wants guys who have a crack and compete for 100 percent of the game,” That is what we fans have been waiting so long for. Great attitude by the kid so lets hope the whole team brings that to our games. Think I will enjoy going to the footy in 2016 much, much more than for many a year!

Tried Greenwoods Asset Management and came up with a some good info: http://www.asiaasset.com/news/Greenwoods_PECH1703.aspx China’s Greenwoods Asset Management (Greenwoods AM) has become the country’s first private equity (PE) firm to invest into a domestic mutual fund business by purchasing a majority stake in mid-size asset manager Chang An Fund Management (CAFM). Greenwoods AM is one of the top PE companies in China, and is engaged in a wide array of investments domestically and overseas, including A-shares, H-shares, red chips and American Depository Receipts (ADRs). http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-10-08/top-performing-golden-china-hedge-fund-exceeds-1-billion-assets "Golden China Fund, the best-performing hedge fund investing in the nation over 10 years, exceeded $1 billion in assets for the first time with bets on financial, real estate and technology stocks...The fund, managed by Greenwoods Asset Management Ltd. founder George Jiang.." All good!

I tried that and google came up with a US based coy. ...so are you going to post a link...

ok, i'll bite...what?

Yes, according to the ABC: Past, present Essendon players launch appeal against CAS judgement to clear their names over supplements saga Tanner says: "The legal advice, I understand, indicates that their prospects for success are at least reasonable." Tbh I would want odds that are far better than 'at least reasonable' to embark on something this big, even with someone else's money. Tanner doesn't sound convincing or even remotely confident. A big waste of time if you ask me!

The page behind that link is coming up blank for me. I've tried to find some info about Greenwood Capital but come up with zip:. - I googled Greenwood Park - a park close to or part of Deakin Uni - I googled Greenwood Capital - a company in the US but no Chinese presence in sight. - I googled Mr Fu Jianping - nothing. - I tried Yellow Pages - nothing It seems quite odd that there is nothing, no website, address, phone no, contacts etc. What am I missing? With Melbourne Victory signing with them, it has some eerie echoes of Energy Watch. But Jackson is very thorough and would do decent due diligence. Nonetheless I would feel more comfortable if google found something, somewhere...

I noticed that but it looked as if the author was paraphrasing Jones so I "quoted" the author but I can see it looks like it was quoting Jones. Jones is quoted as saying: "Not hurting one another's the main thing," Jones said. "We try to sort of not dump blokes in tackles. Be it those specific quotes or the paraphrasing there seems little doubt there was a message for Viney. I thought Jones handled it really well either way.

Nicely handled by the captain: Managed to give Viney a message ("The scuffle...came about after Viney broke a crucial unwritten rule: don't smash your teammates in training) and downplayed the episode at the same time! ("At times, it's a split second decision and accidents happen.") Our captain gets better by the day!

Neil Balme claims Howe told him the frisbee story: “I can only report what he told me and I do understand that he played cricket, which is OK. But, he didn’t break his finger playing cricket so I don’t know why he wouldn’t tell me he broke his finger playing cricket, If he broke his finger playing cricket,” football manager Neil Balme told SEN radio.' http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl Hope Jeremy told the club the true story whatever it is...Eddie went ballistic last time a player lied to the club. Not an auspicious start by JH. Edit: The article above also says: "Howe bowled four overs in the match — finishing with 0-20 — despite battling stress fractures in his feet earlier in the pre-season and not yet resuming full training". Why on earth would be be bowling while injured! Perhaps playing cricket is not quite as ok as Balme wants us to think. My guess is he is getting quite a talking to.

He is one of the very few Ess supporters to accept the CAS decision: From his bf post: "...And yeah, I've been pretty open about the fact I think the CAS probably came to the right decision, but got there in a very strange way..." While he was challenging I always thought he argued his case well (albeit unconvincingly), without hyperbole or offending on DL. Kudos to him for taking it on the chin.

Stadium Australia wins rights to new Perth stadium http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/wa-football-loses-in-perth-stadium-bid-20160208-gmosd4.htmlto the potential detriment of Freo and Eagles. It may seem no big deal except the AFL Chairman, Mike Fitzpatrick sits on the Board of a company with shares in Stadium Australia. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/mike-fitzpatrick-could-have-second-conflict-to-manage-at-major-afl-stadium-in-perth/news-story/33a1d79e556bd6b13a9faacdb2c7d3f2 Not in any suggesting something untoward. But it must limit the energy and resources the AFL commits to fully support the WAFL for its consortium to manage the new stadium. You would think the AFL would have learnt from the problems of not having management/ownership of its major stadiums and being locked into financially unattractive contracts. This applies to ANZ stadium in Sydney, Adelaide Oval and Etihad - all with contracts detrimental to the AFL tenant clubs. We complain about Gil but Fitzpatrick's approach and his many conflicts of interest has probably done more harm to the AFL than Andy D and Gil put together.

Here is the full story: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2016-02-08/deepening-our-china-connections "TODAY marks the start of Chinese New Year with the arrival of the Fire Monkey under the Chinese Zodiac and Greenwood Capital as a new commercial partner of the Melbourne Football Club" "Jackson further remarked that Greenwood Capital relies on relationships and believed “that as a partner of the Melbourne Football Club, we can assist Greenwood [to] develop further relationships with the broader Melbourne and Australian communities.”. The opportunity to further expand the Club’s work with local Chinese communities, through this partnership was further reinforced by Jackson when he suggested that it will, “not only raise the awareness but increase the interest of AFL and the Melbourne Football Club among Melbourne’s Chinese communities so that we can continue to represent all elements of this great city”. I guess it fits nicely with the new AFL Multi-cultural Academies, altho I'm not sure our allocated zone covers the Chinese communities. The article doesn't talk to length of the sponsorship or what level but great news regardless. MFC kicking more goals, off field!

from what I've heard that is also on the cards!

It seems the numbers are very 'rubbery'!!! Some just don't make sense eg MFC profit of $.562m on Rev of $44.5 while CFC figures are $.850 on $66.2m. Carlton $2.7 loss on $54.1m. As the core costs of running a football club are the same eg Sal cap, # of coaches/support staff etc you have to wonder what creative accounting the 'power' clubs are doing to make such small profits/big losses. I'm not even sure the AFL has mandated accounting policies, practices and formats...at least none that are apparent whenever I have looked at comparing financial reports from clubs' annual reports. It would help if we could compare 'apples with apples'. But I fear the AFL is quite happy to have a certain opaqueness in club financials - it enables them to use their financial discretion without other clubs/club supporters saying: 'what about me'?! That is just another ?mark on how the AFL operate.

Another voice in the wilderness calling out the AFL's weakness: http://www.theroar.com.au/2016/02/08/afl-commission-lacks-courage-counts/ "Both times, the AFL will have consulted with other people who have clear conflicts of interest. Watson with his own medal and the other clubs preventing a competitive advantage to teams losing players through suspension...It’s time the AFL and the commission develop enough conviction in their thoughts to back themselves to make the right decisions without weight added from people on the outside." Shame the more serious mainstream media don't say the same. Credit to Greg Healy for speaking his mind. He seems the only one: Gerard Whateley is sitting quietly on the sidelines. Patrick Smith is writing puff pieces about membership numbers and Caro is still on holidays. She is one of the very few who does, at times, take aim at the AFL...I'm hoping when she returns that she will be a voice for the good.